This is Laura Lee Rose, a business and life coach that specializes in professional development, time management, project management and work-life balance strategies.  In my GoTo Academy: Soft Skill Tools for the GoTo Professional continuous online coaching series, I go into office etiquette on various real-world IT topics in detail.
If you are interested in more training in these areas, please sign-up for the continuing online coaching series.Whether we a member of the staff or the owner of our own business, thinking like an owner provides additional solutions that we otherwise would never consider.

For instance:  Thinking like a Worker Bee

• I need to acquire certain course credits to keep my my certifications active and relevant, but I don’t have time to schedule the courses.
• There is a upcoming technical conference that will easily complete my course credits, but I don’t have the funds or time to attend.
• If I present at the conference, my tuition and registration fees will be waived AND my credits will be accomplished; but I don’t have time to develop any presentation materials or required whitepaper.

Thinking like the Owner:

• Various certification delineate me from others.  This is a non-negotiable in my Career Management Strategy.  This certification isn’t separate from my profession.  The certification is my work.  As such, the certification becomes a part of my Personal Business Commitment, my Independent Develop Plans, and my yearly Performance Review/Evaluations.  Making the certification part of my performance evaluation and commitments makes my manager a co-conspirator in this goal.  Therefore, my manager is co-responsible for making this happen.
• Outline “what are you going to do with this knowledge” to your manager.  Line up specific projects or prototype demos that forces you to use this knowledge immediately.
• To increase possibility of getting the needed time and funds to attend the conference, I ‘think like the owner’ to visualize company advantages to your attendance such as:
• • bring back sales leads from the conference – and include marketing, sales and business analysts in your plans
  • speaking at the conference to illustrate your company being the thought leader in this space;
  • assisting at the company sales booth – and include your marketing and sales team in your plans
  • visiting customer in that area – and include Technical Support and Business Analysts in your plans
  • holding a client forum or user group meeting during your visit – and include Technical Support and Business Analysts team in your plans.
  • hold follow-up learning sessions with your department to share the information that you learned at the conference.  This way your entire department benefits from your trip.
• Include your manager and co-workers in your presentation and whitepaper development.  By including your manager, he/she is in-tune with the required time to prepare.  Schedule practice sessions in front of your co-workers and other managers to help prepare for the conference AS WELL AS train others in your area of expertise.  Be open to others’ advice and acknowledgments in your presentation..
• Review my Individual Networking Strategy plans to see if there is any one else I want to be aware of my plans.  The more people that can benefit from my trip, the more likely I will be given the time and resources to accomplish my goals.
• Review my LinkedIn.com, Facebook and client contacts (from a professional viewpoint) to see who else will be attending the conference.  Make plans to create face-to-face networking opportunities with these people.

Homework:  Review the items that you are currently doing.  What would change if you actually ‘thought like the owner’.

For more worksheets (like the individual development plan,and the individual network strategy worksheet) check out my Worksheets for Success at https://www.lauraleerose.com/worksheets-for-success/

Links:

• https://www.lauraleerose.com/worksheets-for-success/

Try it and let me know what you think.

 

If you liked this tips, more can be found at www.lauraleerose.com/blog or subscribe to my weekly professional tips newsletter at http://eepurl.com/cZ9_-/

The weekly newsletter contains tips on:
1)      Time management
2)      Career maintenance
3)      Business networking
4)      Work life balance strategies

If you haven’t taken advantage of your introductory time management coaching session, please contact LauraRose@RoseCoaching.info